Mian Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has been elected Chief Minister of eastern Punjab province, it was officially announced Sunday.

Shahbaz Sharif, president of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party, was elected unopposed while securing 265 votes in the 371-member provincial house.

The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) party did not take part in the election and its members boycotted the proceedings.

Shahbaz returned to Pakistan late last year at the end of a seven-year exile in Saudi Arabia.

He was chief minister of Punjab, Pakistan's biggest province, in 1997-1999 when the then army chief General (retd) Pervez Musharraf dismissed his PML-N governments in the center and Punjabon Oct. 12, 1999.

Shahbaz and his brother Nawaz Sharif were then sent into exile to Saudi Arabia in 2000.

He was barred from taking part in the February elections by the election authorities on the charges of masterminding murder.

Shahbaz in his maiden speech after election asked Musharraf to resign, saying that "days of the president are numbered."